Two tips for those who are planning to build custom-made homes

About Me

Thanks for checking out my blog! My name's Olivia, and I'll be sharing my advice about construction and contractors here. When my husband and I first decided to move in together, we didn't fall in love with any of the homes on the market so we decided to build our own. We learned a lot about construction and contractors during that time, but our journey wasn't over yet. Over the years, we've had multiple changes made to our custom home, including extensions to accommodate new babies, adaptations for in-laws moving in and even an outbuilding studio for my son's music production endeavours. As you can imagine, I've had to do a lot of research on home building over the years, and now I'd love to pass that advice on to anyone else who needs it. Look around—I'm sure you'll find something useful.

If you are planning to have a custom home built for you and your family, you might want to keep the following tips in mind.

Be prepared to be very involved in the process

One of the most exciting parts of having a custom home built is that you get to choose exactly what you want the building to look like, down to the very last, tiny detail.

However, this also means that you will be very involved in the construction process and will have to make far more decisions than you would if you were to purchase and renovate a pre-existing property.

Your team of custom home builders will, for example, need to you tell them exactly what materials you want to use in every room of the property, as well as what kind of roof you want the house to have, what type of layout you prefer, and so on and so forth.

It's important to be prepared for this and to ensure that you set aside time each week to meet with your team of custom home builders, so that they can then order the required materials and get on with the process of constructing your home.

If you want these meetings to go smoothly and be as straightforward as possible, it's also a good idea to do some research beforehand (regarding design features, decor or other things you want to include in your new home), as this will enable you to clearly communicate your preferences to your builders.

If you don't make time for these meetings, it may take far longer for your builders to finish building your property.

Accept that it may be a lengthy process

Building a custom-made home that has unique features or an unusual layout will take significantly longer than renovating a pre-existing house.

In addition to finding and buying a plot, you will also have to seek planning permission, after which you will have to consult with your custom home builders as they draw up the plans for your home. Then, you will need to wait for the builders to source and order your materials before they can start the construction process. Additionally, you may need to have your plot surveyed.

Extreme weather conditions and the installation of complex custom features may also affect the speed of the construction process.

Accepting this from the outset and planning accordingly (i.e. making sure that you have somewhere else to live until your builders have finished constructing your new home) will make this experience a lot less stressful.